Altered Plans
by NoelleWynters
Summary: Anastasia starts having second thoughts about her alliance with Jafar, she wants to change the past but maybe there is a reason it can't be changed.
1. Altered Plans

_Standard disclaimer applies: I own nothing, this was all for fun._

_The prompt for this one was flight. It could be open to continuation, if there is more I'll take this off 'complete' and add it as another chapter over more one shots._

It was all for nothing.

Anastasia was not easily shocked, and when she was she wouldn't let it show. But in the last few minutes she'd been stunned beyond the ability to speak, she could hardly believe what she'd just seen happen before her very eyes.

She had known when she'd joined forces with Jafar to break the laws of magic that he was a ruthless man, someone not to be trusted. Yet she had forged ahead, keeping that in the back of her mind with every word he spoke. She thought he spoke rather lofty and he may well be overestimating his abilities, but the idea of being able to turn back the hands of time and fix a mistake that had cost her a love she felt could never be replaced was far too alluring.

All she had to do was watch her step and keep a wary eye on the sorcerer. She was the one who caught the genie, she found his bottle and she was the one who finally lured Alice to them. But this was not what she'd expected, in the least.

This was beyond cruel, and yet she couldn't understand how he'd done it. "I thought you couldn't change the past," she stated, trying to keep her tone even and not betray her surprise.

Jafar turned to her and smirked. "I didn't change the past, now did I? If you'd look over at that pathetic genie you'd realize nothing has changed except Alice's memories. She remembers everything, all her adventures in Wonderland, her friendship with the Knave and all her encounters with you and every other aggravating inhabitant of this miserable realm. Everyone but the genie, as he doesn't exactly belong in Wonderland, now does he?"

"Well, no, he doesn't," Anastasia stammered, glancing over to Cyrus. While Alice looked a bit confused with everything going on, the genie looked completely heartbroken. He'd been distressed enough when Jafar had brought Alice into the dungeon area he kept the hanging cages, but that had only intensified when the woman he loved made her first wish.

It was for something small, of no note really so far as Anastasia was concerned, but the way Cyrus had reacted was. He'd looked completely betrayed that Alice had used a wish, and for something small and pointless. He had almost spoken up, but instead bowed to what was expected of him.

And it actually made Anastasia feel her heart break a touch.

Maybe she wasn't sure about the whole true love thing, she'd tossed it aside herself after all, but just because she was angry over a mistake she'd made in the past did that give her the right to destroy someone else's happiness?

But still, she stood there silently as Jafar spoke words dripping with honey to get Alice to make her last two wishes. She kept an eye on Cyrus, and even glanced over to the Knave once in awhile, who was slumped against the door way. She had done all this to have him back, but now she was questioning it.

Maybe the past couldn't be changed for a reason. If she'd just gone to find him she would have had her answers all those years ago, but now he was changed. He almost seemed heartless, although she could tell he cared about Alice at least, as a friend. He'd tried to fight Jafar off, not that it did him much good. Some might see that as an overture of love, but she'd seen him in love before and recognized the signs. He was a devoted friend to Alice, and nothing more. She actually questioned if he could love still.

It was all wrong, and she blocked out the sound of Jafar's voice as he talked Alice into making her last two wishes. Even she wasn't cruel enough to wipe someone's memories, and she knew the spell to do so. She'd been tempted to cast it on herself just to forget the pain of what she'd done, and erases her longing for a man she could never have again.

If she'd done it, they wouldn't be here now. But that wouldn't have been a healthy choice, she had to deal with her choices and the pain they'd caused her and move on.

At that moment, she wished she had.

* * *

Cyrus jolted awake when he felt his bottle being jostled about. That struck him as a bit odd, all his observations of Jafar gave him the impression that he normally was very careful with anything he had in his possession. After all the trouble the sorcerer put into acquiring the last genie he needed, he thought he'd at least be a little more careful with the bottle he was imprisoned in.

But then, he might have been expecting too much. He never thought Jafar would be heartless enough to use a spell to make Alice forget him, although his last glimpse of the woman he loved made it obvious the magic he'd used was only temporary, as the horror on Alice's face over what she'd done was more than evident while she watched him vanish in an orange mist as he was drawn back into his bottle.

He could only hope that at least she'd been sent back to her own world without any other harm done. He was certain she'd blame herself for all of it, when it wasn't her fault in the least. Cyrus always knew one day Jafar would catch up with him, and would own his will at some point. It was always just a matter of when, not if, which had made him reluctant to pursue a relationship with Alice.

Still, he didn't regret it. He did regret how it ended, and any anguish she was now suffering over the horrible thing the sorcerer had done to force her into making her wishes. Hopefully she would be able to move on, as this time there was no coming back to rescue him from whatever fate awaited.

A familiar pull came over him, causing him to wonder why Jafar would be summoning him from his bottle. The spell he longed to cast was likely possible without having any of the genies required standing before him. He longed to fight it, but he really had no choice in the matter.

His confusion only intensified when he appeared outside of his bottle and instead of being in a dark room, which seemed to be something Jafar favoured, he was greeted with daylight and a warm breeze. Cyrus glanced around quickly, and his dark eyes widened in shock when he found himself standing before the Red Queen, who had his bottle in her slender hands.

There were so many questions he had, but he knew the rules. "Mistress mine, my will is thine. Tell me your wishes three," he recited, and gestured his hand towards her. In a soft glow three ruby like jewels appeared in her hand, three wishes with so many possibilities.

"Yes well, enough of that. We need to get out of Wonderland and the sooner the better," Anastasia said, shoving the wished in her pocket. She smirked at the rather perplexed expression that washed over Cyrus' features. "What? Were you figuring I was going to stick you back in your bottle?"

"In all honesty, yes. Where is Jafar?" he inquired, not completely sure what to make of this turn of events. The woman had been dead set on whatever she wanted to do with the laws of magic broken, why would she steal his bottle, and essentially him, away?

Anastasia wrinkled her nose in disgust at the name of the sorcerer she had been aligned with. Supposedly this genie was perceptive, she thought he might have figured it out on his own that she had cut ties with the mad man, but then it had only been a few minutes so he likely hadn't caught on yet. "I don't particularly care where he is, but I'm not keen on finding out how long before he catches up with us either. To make a rather tedious story short, I'm no longer working with him. We need to get out of Wonderland and the sooner the better, so follow me. Unless you want to hang around and find out how long it will take him to locate you and toss you back in that lovely cage again."

That was enough to get Cyrus to follow her, even if he had no idea where she was going. To leave Wonderland would require a portal jumper and the only one he knew of was the White Rabbit. He could remember tales of someone called the Mad Hatter who had at one time the ability to move from realm to realm, but he'd not been seen in Wonderland in quite some time.

Anastasia didn't speak as they walked through the wooded area. She could talk to the genie all she liked later, and tell him of her plan once they were safely out of sight. She couldn't help but muse how strange this was for her, when it came to the concept of fight or flight, normally she'd stand her ground. But she was no fool, in this case running was the smarter option.

She frowned as she thought there likely was no end to this. Even once they found the White Rabbit and were safely out of Wonderland there was no reason for Jafar not to track Cyrus down again. He had the other two genies still in his possession, and he was nothing if not determined. There had to be some way to hinder his plans, if not for a little while.

But that could wait until they were hidden away inside the rabbit's home, which she could see up ahead.

* * *

"Look bunny, I'm not going to ask nicely again. Either you dig a hole to get us out of here or I'm going to make your life miserable. And I mean worse than I have already," Anastasia snapped. Why did everyone have to be so difficult?

Cyrus looked at her, trying not to smile. "I don't think shouting will get you anywhere."

"Neither will asking politely it would seem, but if you want to try that out, you're welcome to it," she grumbled, glaring darkly at the offending creature. She'd just told him where to locate his family once he helped them escape, what more did he want? A written apology on gold lined parchment?

The White Rabbit glanced at the two, having never expected to see them standing near each other willingly. He really had no reason to refuse, at least not if Cyrus asked. He owed the genie for telling him years ago to leave Alice for her own good. The words had been well meaning, but at the same time he should have kept that to himself. Or at least worded it better, in hindsight it hadn't been overly kind to tell someone that spend countless years solitary that he should return to that life once more.

He sighed, it would likely be better if he just did as the Red Queen requested. She had told him where to find his family, it was a small move towards making amends. "Where do you want to go?"

A satisfied smile lit up the queen's face. "The place you took Alice after she made her wishes, that's where," Anastasia instructed. She fancied that would have been obvious, but then she knew better then to assume much with anyone.

Cyrus looked at her questioningly. "What good is that going to do either of us? I doubt she'll be happy to see you, and I have no idea what to expect from her now."

"She will be overjoyed to see you, and once I make the three wishes, be them simple ones, she can have your bottle and you back. Simple as that, she'll be your mistress again and you can both carry on being annoyingly in love," she explained, to which the genie frowned. "What? It's a good plan. There is no way you can argue with it."

"I can find fault actually, she can never be my mistress again. Give her my bottle if you please once you make your wishes, but all she'll have is a bottle with a genie trapped inside. A genie can never belong to the same person twice," he explained, slightly surprised she didn't know that. He had thought Jafar would have told her all there was to know about genies.

"Brilliant. I guess I'll keep you as my genie, but please, the two of you can refrain from all your hand holding and kissing around me. I won't use any wishes so you can remain out of your bottle and with her," she promised, meaning every word. There was the problem of the other two genies that Jafar had in his clutches, and when he'd come looking for Cyrus, but she'd cross the bridge when she got to it. With any luck they'd find some new allies to help them against the power mad sorcerer.

Cyrus nodded, it was not an ideal situation but it was far better than the one he'd been in recently. He turned to the rabbit and smiled. "Where are we going?"

The White Rabbit motioned for them to follow him outside, so he'd have somewhere to dig his hole. He would not even consider doing so in the house, his wife would kill him. "Storybrooke, you're going to Storybrooke."


	2. Shouting Will Get You Nowhere

_Standard disclaimer applies: I own nothing, this is all for fun._

_The prompt for this one is **fight**, hopefully it is alright as I'm not overly sure of it myself. Normally I have more time to write, but these days that just isn't so which explains why I'm not sure if this one is good or not._

This was not going well, at all.

Cyrus glanced over at the Red Queen, or former Red Queen he supposed, wondering why she was being so hostile with the shorter man before them. It was as though the man had done anything to her since the White Rabbit had brought them to Storybrooke, other than being a little short with his answers.

"I'm sorry sir, my companion is a bit high strung," Cyrus said, drawing the man's attention away from the former queen. He could feel her angry glare on him, but chose to ignore it. "We are searching for a couple of friends who we have been told are in this town."

The other man grunted in annoyance, obviously he didn't want to be any help at all. Cyrus felt himself becoming slightly aggravated, but he'd dealt with people with far more difficult dispositions over his existence. He smiled warmly, and bowed slightly as a form of greeting. It was what he was accustom to, it may not be what is used in the realm they were currently in but it was all he could think of. "Pardon my manners, I did not introduce myself. My name is Cyrus."

Anastasia watched with a bit of disbelief as the aggravating little dwarf seemed to warm to the genie. How Cyrus could diffuse a situation that was going bad was beyond her, but then she couldn't figure out how he stayed so calm all the time either. She could hold her temper, but later when she was alone she'd have to take it out on something, or someone. She'd never heard Cyrus do more than slightly raise his voice when provoked.

"Nice meeting you Cyrus, the name's Grumpy," the dwarf answered, smiling a bit. "I don't know how either of you got here, and I'd love to see you send her back" he nodded towards Anastasia at that "but we don't get strangers here. Really long story but no one is here that wasn't supposed to be. Dark curse, would take awhile to explain but I haven't heard about anyone coming or going recently."

Anastasia snarled slightly, curling her lip. She had assumed no one could be more useless than her Tweedles, but obviously she was being proven wrong. "I always heard dwarves were thick, but you are taking this to new lows," she snapped.

Cyrus rolled his eyes and groaned. "Your majesty, these antics will not assist us in any way."

Grumpy looked from Cyrus to the woman dressed completely in red. At the title the strange man had used, it at least explained why she acted as though she was all important. "I wouldn't bother trying to throw your weight around here, we've already got an Evil Queen, we don't need a second one in the making. Pretty sure she'd off you in a second given a good enough reason."

At the name 'Evil Queen' Anastasia's grip tightened around the genie bottle she was holding in her gloved hands. The last she'd heard Regina was wrecking havoc in the Enchanted Forest, although she recalled once hearing of the woman's longing to steal away everyone's happy endings. How this related to the Dark Curse the dwarf mentioned was neither here nor there to her, she only wanted to find Alice and reunite her with her genie, as well as maybe find Will and explain herself to him.

She was aware he may never forgive her for what she'd done, but she hoped he would at least hear her out. If nothing else, it would ease some of the guilt that weighed heavy upon her heart.

Cyrus could tell Grumpy had nothing else to tell them, and that he was speaking the truth. There was little point in continuing with questions, there was no more information to be had from the dwarf. "Thank you for your time, I hope we didn't keep you from any important plans."

Grumpy shrugged, glancing over at the woman he didn't have a name for. He had a feeling even Cyrus didn't know her name, although he had a sinking suspicion just by the bottle she held and the ornate cuffs on his wrists that Cyrus likely had another term he addressed her by, other than 'your majesty'. He shook his head slightly, this town certainly attracted some very odd people.

"No, nothing going on. Was just heading to Granny's for something to eat," he answered, addressing Cyrus. He wasn't going to bother with the woman, anytime she opened her mouth she made it more than obvious she wasn't in no mood to talk, all she wanted was answers. It was hard to get answers when you asked the wrong people, but evidently she missed out on that. "I hope you both find the friends you're looking for though, and maybe I'll see you around Cyrus."

Anastasia watched at the dwarf walked away, heading to his grandmother's place. She pitied the woman, from what she knew of dwarves she was certain they ate a lot. Mind, she was also certain they didn't come into the world the way most did, so whoever this 'granny' was, it must simply be someone that allowed everyone to refer to her as such.

"If you keep snapping at everyone we'll receive no assistance from any in this town," Cyrus suddenly said, breaking her from her thoughts.

She turned to look at him, glaring at him with a fiery look that didn't faze him in the least. The genie certainly could be insufferable when he put his mind to it. "Would you shut up? I am in no mood to be lectured on proper etiquette and how to gather information from someone like you," she snapped, marching away.

Cyrus frowned, why did she always have to be so difficult? He quickly caught up to her, and despite knowing it would likely be in his best interest to keep his silence, he went against his instinct to keep quiet. "Why are you so angry?" he inquired, as that was the one thing he never did figure out. That and why she wanted the laws of magic broken, but somehow he had a feeling the two related to one another.

Anastasia stopped dead in her tracks, and turned around to face Cyrus. She smirked at the shocked look on his face and the way he stumbled a touch to stop before slamming into her. "If you'd just gone back to your bottle we wouldn't be here. If Alice had simply treated the relationship as what it was the bloody spell could have been performed without all this, before I started to actually care about what happened to you and even that annoying little girl. Before I actually began to realize my desires were hurting others." And with that said, she turned and swept off in the direction she'd been heading in before he'd spoken.

They walked in silence for awhile, no idea what destination they were headed for but looking for anyone who may be willing to help them locate the two who had recently arrived in Storybrooke. As they made their way through town Cyrus observed the woman who was now his mistress, realization slowly dawning on him. He had noticed before being drawn back into his bottle how she'd glanced over at the traveling companion Alice had arrived with. "You wanted to change the past," he stated, a hint of dismay in his voice.

At his words, Anastasia stopped once more. She did not turn to look at who was now her genie, she tilted her face up towards the cloud covered sky and exhaled slowly. "You cannot tell me that you have never had a desire to change something in the past, that is assuming you even have one that doesn't involve your bottle."

The words hit him hard; of course he had many things he'd love to change about the past, both from his time as a mortal and as a genie. Ultimately the choices he'd made that had put him in the bottle, but he knew if he could he'd also change the choices he'd made afterwards that had cost many of his earlier masters. That was why he'd told Alice wishing a genie free never ended well for either party. He knew from experience.

"Of course I do, but the laws of magic are in place for a reason. The past is what we made it, we cannot go back and change what mistakes we made. Be it we like what present those choices brought us to and the future they shall create. If you had succeeded and managed to change the past it does not mean you'd have the present you long for, or the future you dream of," he explained, frowning. Why did no one seem to understand the reason those laws were in place?

Anastasia laughed. "What do you know of it? You know nothing of what I desired to do, so I advise you to stop talking, before I make that suggestion into something you simply exist for." She wouldn't say the word 'wish', as she knew it was no longer a word she could toss about so easily with him around and in her service.

"You want to correct a past mistake that cost you someone you love, and who at the time loved you as well. But if you had gone back and corrected those actions, a ripple effect would have happened and eventually another choice made by either one of you would have torn your love asunder. It is why that law exists, the same as I cannot bring back the dead or make anyone fall in love. To bring someone back to life means another must die in their place and it would likely be another loved one who paid that price. In making someone love another when they truly do not only robs someone else of a truer love. Or possibly just more than the person forced to believe themselves in love. All our choices affect another, but those laws exist to stop the person from making a wish from causing more harm than can be corrected through words and actions, which is the only way you will correct whatever you did in the past," he explained, hoping against hope he was getting through to her. People could be rather stubborn when they had their hearts set on something; he'd been that way in a past almost long forgotten. Centuries in a bottle had changed him in many ways.

She listened to his words, understanding what he was telling her but hating each and every word. "There is no easy solution to anything," she sighed, turning to look at him. "You left off you cannot kill anyone. Why is that a law of magic then?"

Cyrus shook his head, that should be fairly obvious. "No one should decide another's fate, be it that they live or die. And I'm sure that is one wish that would be used rather carelessly, if it were allowed."

* * *

Grumpy walked into Granny's to the sound of arguing. As if he'd not had enough from that strange woman in the red dress, now he had the pleasure of listening to even more of it.

Much to his surprise, he glanced over to the counter to see someone he figured was long gone: the Knave of Hearts. He wasn't exceptionally popular with some in the town, as during the curse he was a thief who never seemed to learn his lesson. Grumpy himself had never been overly fond of him, granted he wasn't a stand up citizen of society during the curse either, but at least he hadn't tried to steal some people blind at times and he certainly hadn't been a womanizer.

He almost wondered what the man's non cursed self was like. The fact he had a pretty blonde sitting close at hand led him to draw the conclusion he may not have changed much, although she was someone he'd never seen before. He could remember everyone brought over with the curse, and he knew she wasn't one of them.

"I don't care what excuse you have, you will reimburse me for the cost of fixing that hole in the floor several months back. And the price of the spare key I had to have made because you vanished with it," Granny stated in her no nonsense tone of voice.

Will ran a hand over his face in exasperation. Why was no one listening, the hole in the floor wasn't his fault. And Alice was being no help, sitting there giggling. "Look, that wasn't my bloody fault. The White Rabbit came and needed me to get Alice before she did something bloody stupid, and we went back to that Godforsaken Wonderland to rescue someone," he explained, his tone tight.

Granny noted how the young woman's face fell at the mention of the someone they went to rescue. Obviously it hadn't worked out. She didn't know the girl, who she assumed was named Alice, but her heart went out to her. "You could have been anywhere else, like your own apartment, but you were in my diner after closing and you will pay for all the repairs I had to make. And the spare key I had to replace, even if you brought the other one back finally."

Grumpy glanced over to see Rumpelstiltskin sitting in a booth with Belle, trying to hold in his laughter. "So, has there been some magical time warp or something to Saturday?" he asked. When he'd woke up that morning he'd been certain it was Tuesday, but in Storybrooke strange things were known to happen.

Rumpel turned to look at the dwarf, quirking an eyebrow questioningly. "Not that I'm aware of, why do you ask?"

The dwarf shrugged, sitting at the table nearby. "Well, this is the second bout of arguing and fighting I've seen today. There was some song I heard on the radio the other day that said Saturday night is alright for fighting, so I was starting to wonder."


End file.
